It Is Happening Every Day, Every Where
At a mostly friendly closed-door meeting, the billionaire carrying out President Trump’s bid to shrink the federal bureaucracy fielded queries about how senators could be more involved in the effort.
Democrats argue that Elon Musk’s criticism of the program and push to squeeze savings from it is a prelude to benefit cuts. Republicans and President Trump say they plan no such thing.
Party leaders opted for a soberly delivered, centrist counter to the president’s speech, but the dominant image of Democratic pushback was a liberal congressman waving his cane in protest.
President Trump’s comments on tariffs and Social Security sent something of a chill through the House chamber.
In a lengthy speech, President Trump promoted his administration’s rapid early moves and reprised the themes of his campaign, vowing to crack down on illegal immigration and “wokeness.”
In a speech to Congress in his first weeks in office, the president laid out his vision to remake U.S. policy on the military, trade, immigration and foreign aid.
Presidents typically use these speeches to promote their accomplishments and lay out their plans. President Trump is expected to touch on Ukraine and government cuts.
Republicans argued the bill was essential to protecting women and girls, but also made clear they were bringing it up to portray Democrats as outside the mainstream. It stalled in the Senate.
Facing a wave of criticism from his former Senate colleagues, Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the complaints lobbed by President Trump and Vice President JD Vance against Ukraine’s leader.
Democrats say the calls to remove judges who block Trump administration initiatives amount to intimidation. Some senior Republicans were also skeptical of the effort.